The University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh announced Tuesday it is offering eligible faculty and staff a voluntary retirement buyout with a one-time payment equal to 50% of an employee's annual base salary.

UW-Oshkosh becomes the third campus within the UW System to offer buyouts in an effort to reduce its workforce in the face of state budget cuts. UW-Eau Claire was the first, followed last week by UW-Superior.

UW-Oshkosh expects about 100 employees would be eligible. It has set a goal of reducing its workforce by 80 within the next three years.(14)

Ex-Tower site to get $1.1 million for cleanup effort

The former Tower Automotive Inc. site will be the target of $1.1 million in federal stimulus cash to help redevelop the property into a business park and other uses.

The 84-acre Tower site, near W. Capitol Drive and N. 27th St., is one of several Milwaukee sites that will use more than $3 million in stimulus funds to do environmental cleanup work, Gov. Jim Doyle announced Tuesday. The properties are either owned by the city or are in the process of being acquired by the city.

The money, aimed at cleaning sites contaminated by leaking underground storage tanks, will create an estimated 33 jobs in cleanup work, Doyle said. The money also will help redevelop the vacant and under-used sites into businesses, housing and other uses, Doyle said, in a statement.

The largest amount of cash, $1,108,392, will be spent at the Tower site.

The city's $34.5 million proposal to buy and redevelop the site is pending before the Common Council.

It would cost around $25.6 million in city funds. Of that amount, $15.6 million would be repaid through property taxes generated by new development and by selling parcels within a 58-acre business park created at the Tower site. Another $8.9 million will be funded through state and federal grants, and tax credits, including the grant announced by Doyle.

Doyle made the announcement near the former Esser Paint property, at W. Galena and N. 32nd streets, where $864,845 will be spent. That 3-acre site will be developed mainly for housing.

I'll have a more detailed article in Wednesday's Journal Sentinel and at JSOnline.com.

Commercial Real Estate News

A growing Milwaukee firm that operates medical facilities has bought a Historic Third Ward office building and will move its headquarters there.

Physicians Realty Trust Inc. bought the seven-story, 108,000-square-foot Renaissance Building, at 301-309 N. Water St., for an undisclosed price, the company announced Monday.

The trust plans to move into around 8,000 to 10,000 square feet at the building by July 19 — the second anniversary of the company's initial public offering, said Mark Theine, senior vice president of asset and investment management.